These days, Duanmu Rui’s mind was filled with images of Sheng Mingshu.
She had even sent Yuanyuan to investigate all sorts of things about Sheng Mingshu.
She now knew that Sheng Mingshu was half a year younger than her.
She knew he had started his education late, yet was extraordinarily gifted in his studies and immensely hardworking.
He was highly valued by his teachers at the academy, but remained very low-key.
She had also gotten hold of some of Sheng Mingshu’s handwriting—like the man himself, graceful and refined.
She also knew Sheng Mingshu’s favorite dishes were the Eight Treasures Duck and steamed fish at Bafang Restaurant, though he didn’t go often. On the rare occasions he did, he would bring some back to share with his birth mother.
Sheng Mingshu shared a deep, warm bond with his concubine-mother, Concubine Ruan. She was a woman who deeply cherished loyalty and affection.
Not long ago, when a servant who’d served by her side got married, Concubine Ruan helped carefully pick out a good husband for her and even provided a generous dowry…
In a very short time, Duanmu Rui had even learned the personal preferences of Sheng Mingshu’s page boy, Huaishan…
Whenever she thought of Sheng Mingshu’s face, Duanmu Rui couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy in her heart.
She found Sheng Mingshu’s character, his scholarship, and his courage all deeply admirable.
And his looks perfectly matched her taste. If she could marry… Sheng Mingshu one day, just imagining it felt rather wonderful.
But for now, she still had no idea what Sheng Mingshu’s… feelings were toward her.
Would Sheng Mingshu find her… lacking the poise of a proper noble lady?
Furthermore, the gap between their statuses was immense. She didn’t care about that, but would Sheng Mingshu mind?
She’d heard that men of real integrity didn’t like to be seen as living off a woman’s family…
And her uncle, the Emperor, would never agree to it either…
Whenever she thought too far ahead, Duanmu Rui always felt like her mind became a tangled mess.
Eventually, she simply decided to stop thinking about it altogether!
Her parents had no intention of marrying her off too early anyway, and her older brother still wasn’t married yet. Her own marriage was still a few years away.
A lot could happen in those few years. Living in the present was what mattered most.
Duanmu Rui was quite open-minded about it. She pried lots of stories about Sheng Mingshu’s childhood from Huang Xianjing, and only then, fully satisfied, took Yuanyuan and left.
——-
“Father, Eldest Brother, Sister-in-law, and Dabao and Erbao, I’ve finished eating. Please enjoy your meal.”
Tao Niang dabbed her lips with a handkerchief and spoke in an indifferent tone.
The maid behind her immediately wheeled Tao Niang away. The moment Tao Niang left the dining table, the Feng family snatched up their chopsticks and started fighting over the food.
Ever since Old Lady Li and Feng Lao’er had become paralyzed, the Feng family hadn’t dared to eat anything carelessly.
They always ate together with Tao Niang, and only ate the dishes Tao Niang had touched.
They always waited until Tao Niang finished eating before they picked up their chopsticks, framing it as showing her respect.
Tao Niang never exposed their pretense. Sometimes, she would deliberately drink just two mouthfuls of congee for breakfast and leave every other dish untouched.
Once she left, the Feng family would practically come to blows over one extra mouthful of that congee.
Even though the table was laden with delicious, fragrant dishes, the Feng family was terrified of dying and didn’t dare touch a single bite.
Since Tao Niang was out at noon, the Feng family didn’t dare to eat lunch either.
They’d endure their hunger all the way into the evening, waiting for Tao Niang to return, and then again scavenge the leftovers from her meal.
Once, at noon, Feng Dabao and Feng Erbao were so ravenous they grabbed the coarse grain steamed buns meant for the servants.
When Tao Niang came home, she had each of them beaten with ten strokes of the plank. After that, the Feng family didn’t dare steal the servants’ food anymore.
The Feng family also tried to force the servants to “test the food for poison,” but the household servants wouldn’t take orders from them at all.
Tao Niang’s trusted aide, Mo Gu, only greeted them with cold mockery…
They tried to barge into the kitchen to cook for themselves, but Mo Gu said it was “against the rules” and had them driven straight out.
They tried to take money to go buy food outside, only to be chased back by the gatekeepers, who said the mistress had ordered them confined to the estate for their own safety.
This path was blocked, and so was that one.
On the surface, the Feng family lived in a grand house, wore bright, fine clothes, and had servants waiting on them.
But in truth, they went hungry every day, slept poorly, and their hearts were filled with the terror of death.
The flesh they had so painstakingly put on recently had rapidly shriveled away again.
The Feng family now felt that the days they’d spent digging up wild greens in the village years ago were far better than their lives today.
Feng Dabao and Feng Erbao, at an age of huge appetites, set their sights on the meals of Old Lady Li and Feng Lao’er.
Old Lady Li and Feng Lao’er, both paralyzed in bed, were given one small bowl of vegetable congee with minced meat each day, for all three meals.
Feng Dabao and Feng Erbao figured Tao Niang couldn’t possibly bother poisoning two people who were already halfway into their graves, so when hunger drove them desperate, they stole the two invalids’ food.
Later, when Tao Niang came home, she didn’t beat them. The two boys grew even more brazen after that.
Having his food stolen, an overwhelming wave of regret crushed Feng Lao’er, drowning him in unbearable agony.
Because he had no son of his own, Feng Lao’er had always believed he would have to rely on his two nephews to care for him in old age and perform the funeral rites when he died.
So, Feng Lao’er had actually treated his two nephews better than his own daughters.
A few years ago, when the family set out for the capital and decided to sell Siya and Wuya, he had hesitated at first.
It was Feng Dabao and Feng Erbao who swore oath after oath, promising they would take good care of him, that finally made him agree…
Now he lay paralyzed in bed, with only an old crone who cursed and grumbled while hastily wiping his body every day.
He could smell the foul stench rising from his own body. He wanted someone to wheel him outside to feel the sun.
He wanted a bath, wanted clean clothes, wanted someone to wash and comb his hair.
Wanted someone to come sit with him, just to talk…
But not a single other person in the family came to visit him.
He had waited so painfully long for his two nephews to come, and then those two ungrateful wretches stole his food instead…
Feng Lao’er cursed Feng Dabao and Feng Erbao furiously, tears streaming down his withered face.
He couldn’t help but think, if his Siya and Wuya were still here, they would surely take such good care of him…
Even his Liuya—how sweet and well-behaved Liuya had been as a child—
If he had cherished and protected Siya, Wuya, and Liuya from the beginning, would he not be paralyzed now? Would he not be living such a wretched, desolate life?
But alas, there is no medicine for regret in this world.
Feng Lao’er could still curse aloud to vent his rage, but Old Lady Li could not speak at all.
She could only glare venomously at the grandsons she had once doted on, a clear line of drool seeping from the corner of her mouth…
That night, after Tao Niang left, the Feng family wolfed down what remained until they were only a third full, even crunching fish bones into bits to swallow.
The seductive plate of braised pork elbow and the bowl of stewed lamb sitting at the center of the table—they didn’t dare touch at all.
They could only stare at them with fierce, desperate eyes and keep swallowing their saliva.
They wanted to eat, but they were terrified of dying.
Because Tao Niang had not touched those two heavy meat dishes just now.
Delicious food right before their eyes, hungry bellies, but not daring to take a bite.
For the Feng family, this was nothing short of pure torture—
Suddenly, Feng Dabao spotted the wine pot. He remembered that Tao Niang had drunk a cup just now, so he grabbed the pot and poured it straight into his mouth.
Wine was made from grain; it could at least fill his stomach a little.
Feng Erbao and Xiao Li shi both snatched it away and each downed several mouthfuls.
Only Feng Laoda and Old Man Feng didn’t drink.
Feng Laoda was actually in slightly better shape than everyone else, because Jiaojiao would slip him food on the sly, occasionally bringing him half a flatbread…
As for Old Man Feng, his eyes were dark and unreadable, his thoughts a mystery.
In the dead of that night, everyone in the Feng family who had drunk the wine was struck paralyzed.
Only Old Man Feng and Feng Laoda escaped this disaster.
In her room, Tao Niang burst into wild, unbridled laughter. What Tao Niang didn’t know was that her helpful little assistant, Jiaojiao, was right then “comforting” Feng Laoda.
Saying the dishes were all fine, but who could have imagined Tao Niang would be so vicious as to poison the wine…
The two hardest men in the Feng family to deal with were still standing, and now they had been pushed to the brink. Before long, Tao Niang would be in for trouble herself.
